Technical Field
The present invention relates to a carbon nanotube composite material.
Related Art
A conventionally-employed method for increasing the strength of a metal material is to mix a second metal, which is different from a base metal of the metal material, with the metal material. Mixing the second metal with the metal material, however, causes a problem of a great decrease in the electrical conductivity of the metal material.
Against this background, carbon nanotube composite materials have drawn attention. The carbon nanotube composite materials are expected to have a higher strength and a higher electrical conductivity than the metal material because carbon nanotubes have a high strength and exhibit ballistic conduction. Nowadays, a variety of carbon nanotube composite materials are proposed.
Patent Literature JP 2011-171291 A discloses a composite material wire with a cellulation structure which has: partition portions including carbon nanotubes; and intra-partition portions surrounded by the partition portions, and made from an aluminum material or the like. In this composite material wire, a blend ratio of carbon nanotubes to the aluminum material is not less than 0.2% by weight but not greater than 5% by weight.
A method of manufacturing the composite material wire disclosed in Patent Literature JP 2011-171291 A is performed as follows. To begin with, a mixture including aluminum powder, carbon nanotubes and an elastomer is heat-treated to evaporate the elastomer. Thereby, a porous body is obtained. Thereafter, the porous body is plasma-sintered in a can to produce a billet. After that, the billet is molded by being extruded, followed by annealing at 500° C. Thereby, the composite material wire is obtained.